Original Song

The End of the Beginning
Brace yourself
For what lies ahead
Get ready, get set
For what your life will be instead

It was easy till now
Someone else always there
Someone to help you out
When life just wasn’t fair
It was easy till now
When there were no choices
When life was filled with freedom
And Mom and Dad’s loving voices

I remember the nights
When there was nothing but ease
Our laughter floating effortlessly
Through the summer breeze
I remember the nights
We laid under the black sky
Staring at the stars
As time slowly passed us by

Now it’s time to grow up
It’s time to move on
Act like an adult
Be brave, be strong
Take care of yourself
Cause no one else will
Your life’s up to you now
Your destiny to fulfill

So brace yourself
For what lies ahead
Get ready, get set
For what your life will be instead.

Popular Music Essay

In music, it is clear that what is popular is not always the deepest or most meaningful piece of work. Most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 are, when looked at closely, extremely similar to one another. As the listeners and buyers of these songs, it is quite obvious that, right now, most of America appreciates the same kinds of music. The three songs I chose to analyze were: “Like a G6” by Far East Movement featuring Cataracs and Dev, “Bottoms Up” by Trey Songz featuring Nicki Minaj, and “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” by Usher featuring Pitbull. Although these are apparently the most popular songs in the country right now, I am not very familiar with any of them. When analyzed, I was able to see the extreme similarities between the three songs: each contains simple poetic devices and in some way involves alcohol. These qualities can say a lot about our culture and what is valued most in it.
I found that I easily recognized an abundance of poetic devices within the songs, which I did not expect. However, it was the same poetic device, repeated in different ways throughout each song, which I was seeing. The songs use simple similes, and not much else, to convey their messages. In “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love,” Usher says to “Dance, dance, like it’s the last, last night of your life, life.” This does show an example of a poetic device, but with nothing more to it than what appears on the surface: Usher instructing whomever he is singing to dance enthusiastically. Trey Songz also utilizes simile in “Bottoms Up.” He brags about his wealth by saying, “Money stay in my pocket/Girl I’m like a walking bank.” By comparing himself to a bank, listeners are able to understand quickly that he has a lot of money, but it is too simple and obvious a comparison; it certainly does not take a genius to grasp the message. In “Like a G6,” the simile that is in the title is repeated in the song a grand total of 28 times, and the song also includes one other simile, “Poppin’ bottles in the ice, like a blizzard,” which is repeated several times as well. It can be argued that these songs are full of poetic devices; however, they are simple, easily understood, and, in some cases, extremely redundant. Since these songs are extremely popular, it seems that, as a culture, we don’t really want to have to think very much or work very hard to search for deeper meanings within songs.
A major theme I found in these songs is that each somehow incorporates consuming alcohol. In “Bottoms Up,” the entire song is focused on that subject alone. With lines like, “Got a couple bottles/But a couple ain’t enough” and “If I go get these bottles we go alcohol insane,” it is obvious that the narrator’s main objective is to enjoy himself by getting drunk. In Usher’s song, he sings “Keep downing drinks like there’s no tomorrow.” And, perhaps the worst of the three, “Like A G6” talks of “sippin’ sizzurp,” “poppin’ bottles,” and “gettin’ slizzard.” For the celebrities singing these songs, this life of clubs and expensive alcohol is probably a reality, but for their listeners, it is far from it. To the young listeners, this lifestyle probably sounds cool and impressive, and could potentially lead them to try to emulate what they hear. If kids’ music is constantly filled with innuendos such as this, it would make sense that it would impact them in some way. These popular songs show us that partying and being intoxicated is something we, at the very least, enjoy listening to and singing about.
These songs explain a lot about our culture. Clearly, we do not value the underlying messages within music or songs that can be interpreted in various ways. We do not want to decode songs or understand deeper meanings; we want clear, straightforward, and typically centered on partying. Although most of us do not go to expensive clubs every night and get “slizzard,” we love songs that tell us how awesome it is to do so. Our music ultimately shows what is important to us: alcohol and simplicity.

Short Story

-Inspired by "How Do I Live" by Leann Rimes

I awoke suddenly in the middle of a cold, January night. The pain in my chest was so sharp and severe it was like a dozen kitchen knives repeatedly stabbing through me. I was used to wheezing and occasional chest pains, but I had never felt anything quite like this. My breaths were short, quick; my chest was frozen tight and would not allow me to breathe deeply. In that moment, I would have given anything, anything to fill my lungs with a gulp of pure, fresh, glorious air. Help me! I screamed inside my head, unable to utter a word. Seconds felt like hours dragging by as I lay, slowly losing consciousness. I finally stopped struggling as I relaxed my tensed muscles and accepted my fate. I'm going to die right now, I thought feebly as everything faded to black.

Somehow, I awoke again. The soft beeping of a heart monitor told me that I was still alive. But this time, I was not in my own comfy bed, but a stiff hospital bed, hooked up to tons of machines, wires covering my whole body. The doctor came in a while later and explained what had happened: I had had a respiratory attack due to a lack of oxygen; thirty years of smoking had given me emphysema. I was only forty-three years old, and I would need an oxygen tank to breathe for the rest of my life.

"Typically in these situations, the patient's medical insurance will completely cover the expenses of the tank," the doctor told me officially. "But the problem here is...you don't seem to have any insurance."

My stomach dropped, and the monitor I was connected to began beeping loudly as my heartbeat quickened. Since I had lost my job less than a year previously, I hadn't been able to pay my insurance premium; the insurance company had stopped giving me coverage about two months ago. Paying out of pocket for the tank wasn't even an option; I had barely had enough money to buy my cigarettes the day before.

"What will happen to me if I don't use it? What if I just don't get one?" I asked nervously.

The doctor folded his hands together, suddenly appearing very interested in the hospital's white linoleum floor. He sighed. "You wouldn't last very long. Your body has lost its ability to breathe properly on its own; without the extra oxygen to help, your attacks will get worse and worse until one of them kills you."

I slumped my head back onto my pillow, tears bursting through my closed eyes and streaking quickly down my face. There was no way out of this. I had no one. I had no choices. I would die soon, with nothing. Nothing but a pain in my chest.